Teachers union honcho Randi Weingarten’s 2025 book Why Fascists Are Afraid of Teachers is not just a self-promotional, self-glorifying soliloquy: The unreadable screed has also been a useful cash conduit for Weingarten and her friends to make money on the back of teachers union dues.
Weingarten’s book was a “group project.” A Freedom Foundation analysis of the American Federation of Teachers’ federal filings reveals that it spent significant sums to support this collaborative effort.
Teachers must request a refund.
The book praised former CNN host Sally Cohen — now a “writer” and “media strategist + coach” as well as an “activist,” according to her profile on X — as “indispensable as a partner and collaborator in everyday thinking.”
Whatever the “thought partner” is — call it a fancy way of saying “ghost writer,” according to the report — it sure pays well.
The AFT handed over to Kuhn more than $400,000 in the year before “Why Fascists Are Afraid of Teachers” was published.
This is more than Triple What Cohen typically charged for her union consulting work.
According to the report, Cohen is not the only one who had an arranged trip.
Tony Powell is the photographer credited for the back flap shot of Weingarten’s dust jacket. A well-known social butterfly on the D.C. scene, he was nicknamed “21.”street “The Renaissance Man of the Century” by The Washington Post.
Powell is listed in AFT filings as having received more than $5,000 for “union management.”
This is an expensive headshot!
Emily Krieger received $6,000 from the AFT for fact checking the book.
But the real money, as always, went to the lawyers.
Weingarten thanks attorney Charles Moerdler — a well-connected attorney who has been steeped in New York politics since his days as a housing adviser to Mayor John F. Kennedy. Lindsay – for his “legal review” of her book.
Moerdler’s company is listed in the most recent AFT filings as having received nearly $1 million the previous year, including $140,000 for “union management.”
It is likely that some of this million dollars was for typical lawyer work, but a significant portion of it appears to have been book-related. (Although Weingarten claims he helped with the book on a pro bono basis.)
Finally, Weingarten promised that proceeds from the sale of the book would go to the union and related non-profit organizations. But $125,000 of the proceeds went to an LLC called Teachers Want What Kids Need.
Weingarttern now admits it splits royalties with the union.
Perhaps fascists fear teachers, although the argument in her book is usually weak.
What is certain is that parents and taxpayers should be afraid Teachers’ unions.
Especially when they drain so much public money funneled through union dues to pay for blatant propaganda like “Why Fascists Fear Teachers.”